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The situation at Cabot Square is getting desperate.

People fight in the park, sleep inside the nearby métro station and some scramble for a safe place to escape their drug dealer. Two intervention workers who patrolled the downtown park recently quit and the few remaining workers say they’re at the end of their rope.

Since a shelter across from Cabot Square was forced to move from the neighbourhood in December — leaving men and women in the area without a quiet place to hide away — conditions in the area have deteriorated.

That’s according to police and STM security sources, local shop owners and the director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.

The Open Door shelter provided a space for people to sleep and access to an addiction worker and nurse as well as served food for up to 150 people each day. Since it moved to Parc Ave. last year, advocates say there’s a glaring need for resources to take its place.

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“In the immediate future, we’d like to see funding for a mediator in the park. Someone — preferably with a background in security — who can work with homeless people and police to de-escalate confrontations.”

Police confirmed they’ve had to increase patrols from Westmount’s Station 12 and the department’s métro division to deal with an uptick in violence around Atwater Ave. Métro security guards have also seen a rise in complaints since December, according to the Société de Transport de Montréal.

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One intervention worker — who has been stationed in the park for years — says he has had at least 12 of his clients die since December.

The Montreal Gazette was able to confirm four of those deaths, all of whom were Indigenous women, with the Quebec coroner’s office. The deaths all appear to be related to alcohol addiction, according to friends of the victims.

“I have never seen a spike in deaths like this,” said one intervention worker, who did not want his name published for fear of losing his clients’ trust.

There was addiction before, but now it’s more out in the open.”

“People are suffering from the side-effects of addiction. There was addiction before, but now it’s more out in the open. The Open Door allowed people into their shelter even when they were intoxicated and they’d help get people into detox or a rehabilitation program. That’s not an option anymore.”

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He added that, for many, the shelter helped them hide from crack dealers who sometimes used violence or threats to settle disputes.

Residents have complained about homeless people hanging out around Cabot Square since the Open Door shelter moved in December.Dave Sidaway/Montreal Gazette file photo

But two years ago, a developer bought the church that housed the Open Door and last fall the drop-in centre moved to Parc Ave. to make way for luxury housing. Some clients followed the shelter to its new location, but sources say at least half have stayed behind.

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“Without the Open Door, you’re going to see more homeless people in the park, in the métro and at the McDonald’s (on Atwater Ave.),” said Martine Dubuc, a police commander at Station 12.

“We have had to put more officers on the ground but not that much more. There are complaints about people drinking, smoking and sometimes fighting in the métro.

“We didn’t have this at the same level last year. … People are being expelled from the métro, there are more complaints in the métro, but I wouldn’t say there’s more people calling 911.”

Robert Beaudry, a city councillor in the Ville-Marie borough, says he hasn’t heard of an increase in complaints to police about safety in the park. He says the borough will hire a community mediator to help keep Cabot Square’s homeless population safe.

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“We’re following the situation closely and will continue to work with our partners on the ground,” he said.

Three homeless people told the Montreal Gazette they don’t feel safe moving closer to downtown. They said they feared that by encroaching on other people’s “territory” — and potentially snagging good places to sleep and panhandle — they’d come into conflict with them.

We just want to be left alone and maybe have a safe place to stay during the day.”

“We don’t want trouble,” one woman said. “We’ve been coming here for years. It’s like a home to us. We don’t want to leave. We just want to be left alone and maybe have a safe place to stay during the day.”

Unlike most of the city’s drop-in centres, the Open Door welcomed people who were intoxicated. Many of its clients have been barred from other shelters because of behaviour problems related to addiction.

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City officials have begun hosting focus groups in the area, gauging people’s interest in the potential for a wet shelter. That sort of facility — in which medical professionals supervise homeless alcoholics and allow them to consume and sleep on site — exists in Ottawa, Toronto and other major Canadian cities.

“It’s needed. Our clients are interested, but it could take years to get that off the ground,” said Marina Boulos-Winton, executive director of Chez Doris, a drop-in centre for women near Cabot Square.

“Where would the city put it? No matter where it winds up, it’ll be a tough sell in any neighbourhood.”

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For decades, Inuit have used Cabot Square as a gathering point.

It was near the Tupper St. YMCA residence that housed Inuit staying in the south for medical care and the Northern Quebec Module, which helped visiting families navigate an unfamiliar city. It also stood across from the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

But all of those resources, including the Open Door, have moved away from the area. In their stead, developers are erecting condo towers like Square Children’s and 1111 Atwater — which promises “luxury living” and customizable penthouses that overlook the city.

Despite this transformation, Inuit — some of whom are homeless — continue to congregate in the park. Without anywhere to feel safe or seek shelter, they suffer out in the open.

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One expert says the shelter’s presence on Atwater Ave. acted as a “moral compass” for those who used it.

When you use the shelter, you become a part of a community and you become accountable to that community.”

“When you use the shelter, you become a part of a community and you become accountable to that community,” said David Chapman, who has run the Open Door for four years. “We broke up fights sometimes and resolved disputes and it was in everyone’s best interest to keep the peace because, for many people, it was home.”

In its Milton-Parc location, the Open Door is operating at near maximum capacity. Most of its clients are based in and around Place-des-Arts métro and use its services every day.

Sandra Wesley runs an organization that helps sex workers across Montreal. She says the Open Door was a way for her outreach workers to keep tabs on vulnerable women near Cabot Square.

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She says her clients are being arrested more often and placed in more dangerous situations since the shelter moved in December.

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“When you have a rally point like the Open Door, it becomes a point of contact for people in the community,” said Wesley, the executive director of Stella — a group run by sex workers and former sex workers.

“If you show up somewhere every day, people are going to notice when you go missing. But now that place is gone and nothing has replaced it. The alternative is people hang out at McDonald’s or Alexis Nihon or in the métro and they get kicked out or arrested. … Marginalizing people means that they’re in worse situations.

“It means that women who used to sell sex and work on the street now have to find some disgusting boyfriend who might have an apartment and treats them badly. This is how predators thrive — they see someone in a vulnerable situation and they exploit them.”

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